Reading, listening to, and questioning America... from the southern Great Plains

We're closer to full employment than we thought

How is that possible? Well, the "structure of our economy" has changed. A few years ago, and for quite a while before that, "full employment" figure was unemployment at 5%. The reason for any "unemployment" at all is complicated, but it includes people between jobs and in similar transitional situations.

For now, the unemployment is dropping quite steadily.

On Friday, new unemployment numbers will be released for December. In
last month's report, the unemployment rate dropped to 7.7 percent, a
four-year low. ...NPR

If that figure remains the same or decreases on Friday, we're within 2% of reaching "full employment." How's that? How is 6% "unemployment" suddenly full?

Well, it's those "structural changes." The new magic number for unemployment is 6%, the point at which we can boast full employment in the US according to economist Nariman Behravesh.

Could we find a new way of assessing unemployment that doesn't force us to gag on obscurantist lingo like "structural changes"? C'mon guys!